The Knight
The Knight is a very strong piece but not unbeatable. His attack does 1 damage but don’t judge that until you check out his defense action. The Knight’s defense action causes his attack to increase by 1. This wears off after either 4 turns, if the Knight moves or if he attacks. This is similar to the Pikeman’s defense action but without the drawbacks of a movement reduction and taking double damage that the Pikeman suffers. This, combined with his unmatched 5 health, makes the Knight a true beast to deal with on the battlefield. When playing as the Knight, the goal is to make use of your self-contained attack boost as much as possible. It is often wise to think “Move, boost, attack” when using Knights but, due to his high health, he can also be used as a defensive block from time to time when you need a unit to take one for the team in order to protect a vital point. It’s important to understand the Knight is strong, but not a god. Knights benefit greatly from having a King or Queen near to boost them above even other Knights. As good as he is solo, the Knight is way better when he is not left to go it alone. Pretty much any unit makes a good partner to the Knight but some stronger field pairings would be a Shieldmaiden, Priest or another Knight. A priest is an especially useful partner because poisoning wearing a Knight down over time is one of his weakest points and one must never forget a Priest’s protective orb has the added bonus of curing poison! When playing against a Knight the most important thing to know is, if you are using a Pikeman, do not drink until you can kill the Knight. The reason for this is simple, if the Pikeman drinks and stabs the Knight; yes, the Knight is reduced to 3 health but on the following turn the Knight will simply use his defense action to boost his attack by 1 and then strike your Pikeman dead due to the fact the Pikeman, having gotten drunk, suffered the double damage penalty that came with that action and took 4 damage from a single boosted Knight attack because of it. Shieldmaidens give solo Knights quite the headache and, believe it or not, a Priest supported by its King/Queen can prove quite a challenge to a lone Knight. Lastly, a Pikeman can prove quite the hassle if you follow the formula laid out in the Pikeman’s portion. So, what keeps the Knight from being OP? The Knight excels on smaller maps but, once play moves to the large maps, a Knight’s usefulness starts to drop off as favor shifts to the units with long range capabilities. Since all ranked battles are played on large maps, this is a big deal and more than enough to balance the Knight, even if he does run a pretty mean game in any small map battle.